“They are soldiers, then?” Saraf’s voice was flat.

“They are—at least many of them are. In many ways, much of their ship seems dedicated to exploration and science, yet they do seem to believe in being capable of their own defense,” Milla replied with an odd smile.

The conversation between the two women was cut off when a loud hum came from the far wall and glaring emergency lights ignited around them. A moment later, the four Odyssey soldiers and the local engineer stepped out of the reactor room.

Lieutenant Savoy headed back toward Milla. “We have the reactor back online, Milla. Major Brinks is coming down in the lift now. We’ll have to prepare this group for evacuation immediately.”

Milla and Saraf nodded and turned to the rest of the survivors, calling out instructions as they walked through the group. By the time the lift had returned with Major Brinks, the survivors had already begun to organize their affairs, and a rough sort of order descended on the room.

Milla stepped forward to greet the major when he stepped off the lift. “Major, this is Saraf,” she said, extending a hand toward the older woman. “She is the leader of these people.”

“Ma’am.” Brinks tipped his head toward the woman as he surveyed the area. “May I ask how many people we are looking at?”

“Certainly, Major. There are nearly five hundred survivors here.”

Brinks swore at that, looking around as he started crunching numbers in his head. “One moment, please.”

They nodded as he switched to another channel. “Samuels, relay a query to the Odyssey. Five hundred refugees found. Orders?”

After Jennifer Samuels confirmed the order, he settled back on his heels and began pondering the situation. The Odyssey was built to handle a lot more capacity than it was being used for now, but five hundred additional lungs would stress the support systems.

The time it took for the light-speed message to crawl out to the starship, and then for its return journey, seemed like eons as Brinks tried to figure out what they’d do if the Odyssey couldn’t handle it.

“Stand by for message from the Odyssey,” Samuels said a couple minutes later.

“Roger,” Brinks told her, then watched as a video window appeared on the screen.

Captain Weston looked out the screen at him. “Message received and understood. Organize the evacuation. The Odyssey is dispatching remaining shuttles to help. Godspeed, Major.”

Brinks wanted to wipe the beading sweat from his forehead but couldn’t because of the helmet, so he turned to the two women and ignored the infernal itching. “We’ll begin evacuating as soon as possible. The Odyssey is standing by to treat any injuries and to provide succor. It’ll be cramped, though.”

“They will endure,” Milla said firmly, receiving affirmation from Saraf.

“We will, Major,” Saraf said, for the first time nodding with genuine gratitude. “And on behalf of my people, I thank you for your aid.”

“Not a problem, ma’am. Believe it or not, most of my people signed up in the hopes of assisting in a situation like this. We have a clearing cut about fifty meters from the bunker topside. We need to get everybody out there, in groups of fifty to seventy people at a time.”